The day after
by i1976
Summary: The day after Enos and Daisy (nearly) married: their reflections after "Enos' and Daisy's wedding" episode, a way to show their personality, the hidden side of Enos and, especially, of Daisy. ONE-SHOT


**THE DAY AFTER… we (nearly) married**

Aunt Lavinia's wedding dress.

Daisy slid her hands on the beautiful dress, enjoying the feeling of the chiffon on her skin and remembering the moment she dressed it. She sighed and she gently folded the dress in order to store it in its case, a case that protected it for several years, 'till the day before, and Daisy didn't know for how much time, again.

Sitting on her bed she tried to organize her confused thoughts: a mix of disappointment, rage and sadness. A bitter taste. The feeling of losing something she was longing for, something so near but suddenly so distant.

"_I've always had a genuine affection for Enos"_

"_A lot of people learn to love each other after they marry"._

"_If I call off the wedding now, what will Enos think? He would think that the only reason why I ask him to marry me is to save him from jail"._

LIAR! Remembering her words of the previous day she felt sick.

Lies, to herself and to her family, lies now disgusting her. But, after a life spent playing "the Hazzard's sex symbol", the beautiful woman having every man head over heels, the strong woman helping her family against the Hazzard's corrupted law, it'd have been somehow embarrassing, and surprising, to show her sweet and weak side all in a sudden: the side enjoying and longing for the love of the shyest and sweetest man in Hazzard, the deputy she has had so many times to "foolish" with her (and her family's) shuck and jives (the deputy who let her and her family foolish him, in effect), the old friend her cousins liked to tease because he was the oldest virgin in Hazzard, the close friend she treated in a different way when she was in the public eye (playing the sexy and teasing woman) and when she was alone with him (undressing her mask and showing him all her sweetness and genuine affection).

Her family tried to stop her from that unbelievable wedding, and she couldn't reproach them, since her words for sure didn't help them to accept (and to understand) her decision, but any other word would've been unbelievable for them, anyway.

A simple "I love Enos" wouldn't have worked to explain her sudden decision to marry him, it would've been late and extremely suspicious due to the circumstances, and nobody would've trusted her words (so apparently away from her public acting along her life); a lot better keep on playing the close friend who tries to find a way to not testify against Enos and to save him from jail, being Enos totally innocent, and finding this way in a surprising wedding (since a wife can't testify against her husband).

More difficult to explain it was the occasion she was waiting for. No, she wasn't waiting for Enos risking to go to jail for something he didn't commit, obviously, but she was waiting for a way to push Enos to confess openly his love for her and to ask her to marry him, finally.

And when that occasion became real, she decided she wasn't going to miss that chance.

Uncle Jesse, Bo and Luke would've had all the time they needed to accept her wedding and to understand she really loved Enos after their wedding, so there was no need to waste her time to convince them of something that, in effect, was somehow surprising and rushed.

And now?

Everything was over. The wedding postponed because of Enos' hives, people laughing at that absurd postponing, and her family sighing in relief.

The hives: a stupid excuse, she knew it pretty well, and the disappointment prevented her to try to change Enos' mind. Besides, she would've needed a lot of time to change Enos' mind, 'cause changing his mind meant she had to convince Enos she was marrying him because she loved him and not because she was trying to save him from going to jail. So, the same way her family wouldn't have trusted her sudden "I love Enos", Enos wouldn't have trusted her sudden "I love you".

Lies, masks: she was prisoner of her mask and of her lies.

Daisy Duke and her short shorts, Daisy Duke and her sex appeal, the strong Daisy Duke, the character she's built along the years, a character imprisoning her inner soul and her real feelings.

She looked at her silhouette in the mirror: in the last years she was abandoning those sexy outfits, preferring long sleeves shirts and blue jeans (when she wasn't at work, 'cause, unfortunately, the Boar's Nest required those sexy outfits), and this external changing wasn't a case, but it was her way to start to undress her mask. In the last couple of years she's stopped to date any good-looking (but vapid) man coming to town, men perfect to inflate her ego and her vanity, but not to satisfy her inner and strong need of love, true love, a love only Enos has showed her; she's dated only Enos (even if they acted more like close friends than as a couple) and she was starting to treat him the same way both in public and when they were alone: less teasing and more sweet and genuine, less indifferent (a fake indifference) and more protective.

But it wasn't enough: it wasn't enough changing her outfit and stopping to act like a sort of…; she preferred not to think of that word, 'cause, in effect, despite her many crushes, she wasn't the kind of woman who ended up sleeping with any man she met: she liked to flirt in order to inflate her ego and to have fun looking at good-looking men falling head over heels for her, but she's slept only with few men (men she thought better than they were, unfortunately). Despite what people probably thought, she was waiting for her kindred soul to sleep with, in spite of some flings here and there, flings that now she totally regretted and she was ashamed of because of her naivety and her immaturity.

Looking at aunt Lavinia's dress and at herself in the mirror, she promised herself she would've undressed her mask, definitively, showing finally her real feelings, to her family, to anyone,… and to Enos, obviously.

Enos…

"_The way I care for you. It's the only right thing to do right now"._

Daisy remembered his words explaining her it was better to stop the wedding. She remembered his serious look, his eyes fixed in her ones, and her heart skipped a beat since those eyes proved definitively, to her, the hives was only an excuse to stop her from a wedding without love: Enos really thought she was marrying him for pity and not for love.

"I love you": it wasn't enough to show him her feelings after a life spent acting that way.

She promised to herself she'd have showed Enos her love, not with words (not only with words) but with her actions.

* * *

In front of the mirror, Enos buttoned his uniform's shirt.

He briefly opened the drawer to look at the little box with the wedding rings, and his heart skipped a beat. If the day before he hadn't decided to stop the wedding, he and Daisy, now, would've been husband and wife.

His dream: becoming Daisy's husband. But he didn't regret his decision, he couldn't sacrifice Daisy's happiness for his one: he couldn't accept her way to save him from going to jail and, then, to save him from the disappointment of a called off wedding (after Bo and Luke caught the real robbers). If he wasn't sure of her love, he couldn't marry her.

Hives: it was because of a cake he ate (a cake he decided to eat, then waiting for the hives) and for sure not because of happiness. He looked at the already fainting signs of the hives on his face and he sighed.

He's spent his whole life to understand if Daisy Duke loved him or if she thought of him simply as a close friend.

No answer, yet.

Her continuous push and pull along their life, her acting differently when they were alone and when they were in the public eye: it was driving him crazy, but he couldn't help but keep on loving her, no matter what.

He loved her, the sweet and caring Daisy, despite her wild and sexy mask, a mask she started to wear as she was a teenager, but under her mask he kept on seeing the child he's always loved, a child changed into a beautiful and sweet woman, even if a woman who preferred to hide her tru self under a mask, a mask obviously refusing someone like him, shy and clumsy.

Coming out the Boarding House he remembered her look as she asked him to marry her, at the lake, and then when he was behind the bars, and then again outside the Boar's Nest, after his decision to stop everything; he hoped, again, he wasn't wrong: it was love, in those eyes, even if she didn't say openly she loved him (but, in effect, he wasn't sure if a open confession would've satisfied him, due to the circumstances). He wanted to believe it was love, into those eyes, but he needed time to be sure of it: if he had been sure of it, he would've asked her to marry him, finally.

* * *

"Hey, Daisy. There's your…", Bo turned to Daisy, sniggering, "… husband"

In another day, only few days before, Daisy would have answered Bo with her usual teasing, her mask on, but not today.

She came out the General Lee without a word, leaving Bo and Luke looking at each other, surprised of her silence.

Walking to Enos she observed him, trying to understand if he spent the night tossing and turning in his bed, like her.

"Hi, sugar", a smile, a sweet and genuine tone, not her usual skittish talking.

She looked at his lips smiling at her, the lips she kissed only the day before at the lake, that deep kiss, as never before, their tongues touching and making her shiver.

"Hi, Dais"

A brief sniggering near them as some guys passed by, and she noticed Enos' briefly freezing, a brief show of his pride, and Daisy knew pretty well that his pride was part of his decision of postponing their wedding: not only his respect for her, but also his pride pushing him to refuse a wedding people would've thought as "Daisy Duke married Enos Strate for pity".

Her hand reached his one, his warm and wide hand, squeezing it gently as he blushed.

"Would you have lunch with me, Enos?"

Only a brief nod and a smile from him, a genuine and sweet smile.

His hand in hers, Daisy promised to herself she would've showed her love to him, step by step, openly, no blatant words (Enos wasn't the kind of man who liked blatant words, after all), no more her mask on.

Her hand in his, Enos tried to convince himself it was love, in that spontaneous and sweet gesture, love in her genuine smile, and, when he would've been sure of her feelings, he'd have asked her to marry him, finally.

Their fingers intertwined, naturally, and their palm adhered as two creatures born to stay that way, perfectly fitting, as they walked side by side unaware of everything around them.

* * *

**A little one shot: Enos' and Daisy's thought the day after their (nearly) wedding, a way to show their personality.**

**I hope it's fitting with the show, and especially with Daisy's changing along the series. Or, at least, this is my point of view, a point of view I use in any story I write (this is MY Daisy) ;-)**


End file.
